Penumbra Shade
by Midou-kun
Summary: When a new threat begins attacking members of the Li clan, and Syaoran suddenly becomes the target of attacks, how willing will he be to accept help from Sakura and the rest? Will he let his pride affect his judgement? RR! )
1. Preface

**Card Captor Sakura – Penumbra Shade**

This fic was written over two years ago, and it's _still_ not done. Yeah, I suck. Anyway, I think I'm going to get around to finishing it very soon. I want to… but the Go demons keep calling me away… they're calling… calling… 

I'm hoping to re-read the fic, remember what it's about, dig up the notes on it, and get to work. Hopefully by the end of this year. Yeah, that's a good goal. Please periodically flame me, just to make sure I stick to it. I respond well to flames.

Anyway, this fic is part of that 0.0001% of CCS fics that are not centered on any sort of relationship. In other words, no WAFF. Sorry. Instead, I'm going to try and drag CCS fics out of the bad reputation they've seemed to develop. We'll see just how badly I fail soon enough.

The only help I had on this one was some minor typesetting mistakes, pointed out by Lili-chan. Thank you for the help. :) 

And here it is…


	2. New Blood

**Chapter 1**

Sakura's eyelids twitched gently in her sleep, a sure sign that her angelic soul was somewhere else entirely, caught up in another mystical dream.

Wind.

There was a sudden gust of wind, buffeting her cloak. 'Cloak?' Sakura thought to herself. 'I'm not _wearing_ a cloak.' Sakura looked around her, realizing quickly that not only her cloak, but also her entire outfit was different from what she wore for pajamas.

She was high up, looking at a majestic scope of buildings and towers, twinkling lights and rapidly moving people down below. It was night, she quickly realized. Sakura looked at her feet, teetered precariously on a building. Across from her stood the Tokyo Tower, Sakura recognized, a sight she had become quite accustomed to over the years. Gaining her composure, she looked around her more intently. Small objects, different from the cars below, were flying in the air with her. She peered closely. 

"Clow… cards…" she whispered, entranced by the beauty of the hundreds of little objects whizzing around her. She opened her soul up to the wonderful sensation, aroused by the warm feeling she always contracted when surrounded by Clow Reed's magic. 

'I've had this dream before,' she thought. 'And there's always someone…' she turned her head to the left. '…There." She squinted, trying to make out the figure that she had tried to identify on every occurrence of this recurring dream. As Sakura's eyes adjusted, she realized that the figure was different than usual. Not as tall, not as slender. Sakura recognized it with a start. "Li!" She shouted into the night air. This wasn't right! It should no longer be Li standing on that building, veiled by shadows. Before having met him, he had been jumping down buildings, sword ready. But once they had met, he had been replaced with another figure, a feminine form.  Features of her friend's body materialized before Sakura's eyes. Li's body was slumped, teetering on his feet, but evidently not standing on them. His head was bowed. With no warning, the boy fell forward and cleared the building, plummeting through the thick Tokyo atmosphere to the ground below.

Sakura screamed, terrified of the prospect of losing her rival, her friend. Her eyes fluttered open, and found herself sitting upright, arms desperately clutching her pillow. She rubbed her eyes, and, with a start, brought her hands back wet. Tears moistened her red, blushed cheeks. Sweat covered the rest of her body, soaking through her thin, pink pajamas. 

Sakura sighed deeply and threw herself backwards down onto her bed. "Kero," she groaned. "I had the dream again."

The small yellow figure perched on Sakura's desk showed no signs of moving. His minute belly moved up and down rhythmically, the only outward sign that this was more than just one of the many stuffed toys adorning Sakura's room.

"Kero," she said, somewhat louder. "Get _up_!" Discouraged by continued lack of movement, Sakura pushed herself up onto her sleep-laden legs, slowly walked over to the desk, picked up the slumbering creature and shook him as violently as she could. Eyelids shooting up with a start, the beast's arms flew up, breaking Sakura's weak grip. 

"Hey!" It shouted in a gravelly little voice, hovering even with her face. "What was that for? You coulda just said something!"

Sakura, too tired to argue the point, simply said, "Kero. I had the dream again."

Kero's tiny paws, which had been balled into fists, relaxed, and his countenance took on an expression of inquiry. "So? You have it every night, almost."

Sakura shook her head. "Mm-mmh. Not like this. The person across from me… Kero, it was Li."

"Wasn't he always in yer dream?"

"That was before I met him. Once I did, the person in my dream changed to somebody else… a woman. But that's not all." She continued. "He was dead."

The guardian beast had an air of concerned politeness, nothing more. "Oh."

Sakura was caught between amusement and anger. "Kero! I know you don't like him, but whether we want to admit it or not, Li and I both need each other. I'd have been a goner I don't know _how_ many times by now if not for him."

"Calm down, Sakura. It was just a dream. Li's not really dead."

"I know," She nodded, her auburn hair rippling in the morning light. "But you always say that my dreams about the Clow Cards are like prophecies, aren't they? It worries me because…" She struggled with herself to say what she knew to be the truth. "I don't know what I'd do if Li…"

"Was gone?" Kero offered.

"Mmm…" Sakura nodded. Then, almost in afterthought, she shook her head violently. "I don't know Kero… I wish I could honestly say that I would be just fine without Li. But I'm not, and we both… no, we _all_ know that." Sighing resignedly, she threw herself backwards onto her bed.

Kero cocked his head. "Now don't say that, Sakura. You've captured tons of cards by yourself! And Li couldn't have sealed half of _his_ without your help!"

Sakura nodded weakly. "I know that Kero. I'm not saying I'm totally dependant on him. But he has saved my life. Countless times."

Kero shrugged, inwardly tormented by two of his most dominant instincts; his powerful love for Sakura, and his almost equally powerful hate of Li Syoaran. "Make what you want of it, Sakura, but whether we like it or not, I don't think he's going anywhere for the time being."

She suddenly giggled, enjoying the soft morning sun caressing her face as she lay sprawled on top of her bed, arms and legs spread, taking in all of the day's glory. "You're right, Kero-chan," she used the pet name often associated with the Guardian Beast of the Clow Cards. 

"I always am," he shrugged carelessly. "Now that that's over, when's my breakfast getting here?"

Sakura opened one accusing eye and pointed it straight at her friend. "Is there a time when you're not thinking of food."

Kero scratched his chin as if he were giving the issue deep thought. "No," he said simply. 

Sakura laughed, mostly just to relieve herself of the stress of her dream, reminding herself that there was no point to needless worrying. Changing out of her pink pajamas into her mandatory school uniform, she skipped happily down the stairs. She caught a glance from her father as he stepped out the door.

"Bye, dad!" Sakura called after him, still in motion. His response was lost as she flew into the kitchen. "Hey, oniisan" She beamed to her brother, who was hunched over two sandwiches in the making.

"Hey, squirt," he responded, not taking his eyes off of his masterpiece. "Your lunch's almost ready."

Sakura gaped at him. "_Touya?_ You're actually making my lunch for me?"

Her brother shrugged. "Don't get used to it, it's just that I'm off of work for today, so I figured I might as well help you out a little."

"Touya" Sakura rolled her eyes. "I am deeply touched."

"Deeply touched enough to do the dishes for me?" he thrust out one bagged sandwich. 

            Sakura made a point of glancing at her watch. "Oh look," she smiled slyly, "it's time for school." She grabbed the sandwich and started for the door. Slamming it behind her, she ran down her driveway, and came down to a stride on the sidewalk. Gulping in the sweet morning air, Sakura looked upwards, letting the sunlight once again hit her face, unabated by glass this time, enjoying its soft glow and tender warmth. Days like these reminded her of the beauty and simplicity of life she had enjoyed before that fateful day that she had stumbled upon the Clow Book, and had changed her life forever. The Clow cards had certainly brought a new dimension to her, new experiences, new joys. Still, she missed her old, carefree life, and reveled in moments such as these.

            A familiar voice penetrated Sakura's thoughts. "Sakura! Sakura!" She spun around, to find a small girl running towards her, arm waving frantically. Her raven black hair was in complete contrast with her pale skin, and it was flying out behind her as she closed the distance between herself and her best friend.

            "Ohayou, Tomoyo-chan!" She called out as the girl skidded to a halt in front of her. Sakura betrayed all looks of her troubles from her face, deciding to spare at least her best friend from the worries troubling her heart. 

            "You didn't seal any Clow Cards last night, did you? Because that would mean I would have missed another capture and-- Sakura are you ok?"

            Sakura hadn't realized that while Tomoyo had been talking, her head had fallen, and her mind had gone deep into the meaning of her haunting prophecy. "…Yeah. It's nothing."

            Tomoyo raised an eyebrow and placed one hand on her hip, going into a very skeptical look. "I know you well enough to know when something's wrong. And something is."

            She shook her head. "No, don't worry about it. I'm just kind of… tired."

            Tomoyo shrugged. She didn't quite believe her friend's claims, but she knew that Sakura would tell all when she was ready, and not before. "Want to walk to school?"

            Sakura nodded eagerly, happy to be with her best friend. They both picked up a pace again, heading towards the direction of their school. 

            "So, how's Li doing," she inquired innocently, completely unaware of the fresh brand of fear that sent through Sakura. 

            The girl acted lethargic at her friend's painful comment. She shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know. I didn't sense any magic last night, he should be fine."

            "Ah," Tomoyo nodded. The underlying tone in Sakura's voice more than gave her the hint that Li was not the desired topic of conversation at the moment.

            The remainder of the walk remained silent, until they reached the schoolyard. 

            "Hey!" Sakura and Tomoyo both turned their heads to find Meiling Li running towards them. She stopped in front of them, a triumphantly smug look on her face. "Guess what! Syaoran captured a Clow Card last night!"

            Sakura gasped. "Really, is he OK?" Meiling was taken aback by this sudden barrage. "Yeah, why wouldn't he be?" She assumed the same skeptical look Sakura was so used to seeing on Tomoyo-chan. "You think just because you weren't there, he couldn't handle it by himself?"

            Sakura shook her head again, "No, that's not it. I'd better get to class." She walked off towards the building, leaving two very confused girls standing in the front yard. 

            "What's with her?" Meiling asked.

            The other shrugged. "Beats me. She's been acting strangely all morning. I think it's something to do with Li, she's been awful jumpy whenever we bring him up."

            Meiling glared daggers at Sakura's retreating back. "She better not be getting any ideas!"


	3. Old Blood

**Chapter 2**

Sakura, panting heavily, slid open the door to classroom 5-2,  and plopped down into her seat, thoroughly fatigued from the run up several flights of stairs. Breathing heavily, she slouched deep in her chair. The door slid open again, and Sakura lolled her head sideways to find Kaho-sensei walking in, like always. As she turned and walked towards her desk, another much shorter figure was revealed standing behind her.

            "Li-kun!" She exclaimed into a classroom that was now abuzz with eager conversations. He caught her glance, and walked over to the desk behind her. "Hey, Kinomoto" He muttered uninterestedly, throwing himself into his chair, too.

            "I, um… heard you captured a Clow Card yesterday…"

            Li nodded, his usual serious, disciplined face set in stone. "I did."

            "Which one?"

            "The Arrow."

            Sakura nodded knowingly, although in truth, she didn't remember anything about the Arrow card. "Did the fight go OK."

            "Despite Meiling, you mean?"

            Sakura giggled. "C'mon Li, she did help, didn't she."

            "Actually," Li began, but stopped suddenly, his eyes lighting up. A second later, Sakura felt a pang, striking her soul with resonant intensity. "Do you sense it?"

            Li nodded, tense and ready for action. "I don't know where it's coming from, but its near here, all right."

            "Strange, though," Sakura surrendered herself to the influx of magical energy. "It feels… strange. Not really like a Clow card."

            "It does feel a little different," Li admitted, "but it's gotta be a Clow Card. How many other rogue magical forces are there?"

            Sakura stood up to leave, and then, with a sudden realization, turned to Li, a desperate look in her eye. "Class is about to start, we can't just leave."

            The concentrated look on his face told Sakura that he had thought of this long before she had. He raised his hand. "Kaho-sensei, may I please go to the washroom?"

            The redhead looked up from a book she was scribbling in, smiled, and nodded. "Hurry up, Li, class will be starting soon." With a brisk nod of acknowledgement, Li shot up out of his seat, almost knocking it over, and ran out the door. Sakura stood up also. "Um… I kinda have to go to the washroom too…"

            She raised one eyebrow, but in her mind, knew exactly what was going on. "You may go."

            Tomoyo looked around desperately, in dire need of an excuse to tape Sakura's battles. Meiling was also squirming in her seat, anxious to help Li. "Um…" she started.

            "You may go. You too, Tomoyo-chan."

            Smiling, and with a polite nod, both girls quietly got out of their seats, pushed them back in, and followed their friends through the halls of the school, leaving behind a class of very puzzled students.

            Li's feet pounded the sidewalk into submission with every step, sending resounding beats throughout the empty streets, the only way by which Sakura was able to follow him. Every fiber of his magical potential was focused on sensing the lingering traces of Clow Reed's magic, and tracking it down. 

            "Li!" She called out in front of her, hoping she was aiming her cries in, at least, the general direction of her friend's retreating back. "Wait up!" 

            Turning his head to the side to hear her, he skidded to a halt, and spun around, waiting several seconds before she became a visible figure. "What is it?" He inquired brusquely.

            She panted, gasping in mouthfuls of air desperately. "First of all," she grinned, "slow down." Half of this request came from her desire to be able to keep up, but it was also strongly driven by her ever-mounting despair at her dream.

            Li sneered.

            "And second of all, do you have your sword or Rashinban?"

            This time, Li shook his head. "No. They're back home." He looked at her desperately. "Tell me you have the key and the cards."

            Sakura shook her head mournfully. "No, I left them back home too."

            Li grimaced, trying to think of a way to retrieve their needed items. After a second, he angrily kicked the paved street. "Damn! Now we have to waste time going to get them. Who _knows_ where the Clow Card will end up doing by the time we find it."

            Sakura gasped. "Oh, no! I just remembered. Touya's off of work today! He's home, I can't just show up there!"

            Li's next curse was swallowed up by a dim yell. "Sakura! Syaoran!" Both card captors spun around on their heels, seeing two girls running towards them. Sakura sighed and smiled. "It's Tomoyo and Meiling."

            Li, however, seemed a degree madder than before. He glared at the two girls as they halted in front of them. "What are you _doing_ here? You should be in class!"

            At this unwelcome greeting, Meiling's countenance suddenly shifted. "Look, Li, we've gone over this before, I can take care of myself just fine!"

            Sakura nodded. "Li, let them tag along." 

            Li, still glaring daggers at all three of the girls, said, "Fine, but there's still the problem of getting our stuff. We can't just walk in and get them, her brother's home!"

            Meiling shrugged. "So, what's the problem, just call Kero and have him drop them out of the window."

            "What if Touya picks up?"

            Sakura sighed. "I see what you mean. This is going to be difficult."

            "I know," Tomoyo put in. "I'll pretend I left something in your room, and ask to go in and get them. He won't start asking _me_ too many questions about why I'm there."

            "That works! And get Kero too!" Sakura said, excited that a solution had finally come along. She shot a glance at Li that clearly emanated triumph at having proved right in her postulation about Meilin and Tomoyo.  Li snapped his head in anger. "Fine. Let's just go, we don't have all day, that Clow card could be wreaking havoc as we speak."

            Sakura realized the truth in these words, so rather than arguing, she nodded. All four children broke into a run down the streets, passing familiar cherry trees, their boughs alight with many tiny, sparkling blossoms. Sakura, forcing herself to focus on the task at hand, did not have a chance to admire their crystalline beauty like she usually did, blading the way to school.

            Li turned to Sakura as they ran, and shouted across, to make himself heard. "Kinomoto-chan! My grip on the card is getting weaker. We must be heading away from it!" 

            She felt deep inside herself and realized that Li's statement was true. The Clow Card's presence, or whatever the magical energy was, as Sakura still felt that its presence was somewhat different from a Clow Card, was indeed growing more distant with each step they took. 

            "Look!" Meiling pointed to a house in the near distance. "That's yours, isn't it, Kinomoto?" She interrogated, almost as if it was some fault of Sakura's for living in that house.

            "It is," She acknowledged. "Ok, Tomoyo, we're going to go around back under my window. You go up there and throw my Clow Cards and Sealing Staff down."

            "What about Kero-chan?" She asked.

            Sakura rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Tomoyo-chan, throw him down, too."

            The girl giggled, and nodded, heading around her driveway to the front door. "Don't worry, guys, it'll all be taken care of in a moment."

            The light of the glaring TV screen reflected on Touya's face as his finger repeatedly struck the remote, switching channels at an alarming rate. He turned his head. Had that been a doorbell? Turning the volume down, he listened more carefully, recognizing the musical tinkle as the signal that someone was at the door. With a sigh, he put the remote down and got off the sofa. He walked over to the door, and opened it to reveal a small girl that barely reached his chest. His face registered surprise. "Um… Tomoyo-chan. What are you doing here? Isn't school in?" He took a step forward and looked around. Strange, he thought. She's usually surrounded by her bodyguards. 

            "Oh," Tomoyo stammered, obviously caught off guard. "Um, well, I _was_ going to school, but… I remembered I left my… book… at her house."

            Touya raised one eyebrow. "Oh. I see," he lied. "Well, what book did you forget, and where is it."

            Her eyes grew wide. She had never thought that Sakura's brother would be this much of an obstacle. "Um… I forget. I'll just go in her room and get it." He stifled a grin. "You forget? What period do you need it for?"

            Tomoyo blanched visibly, another sign Touya had towards knowing that she was up to something. "Um… period 2?"

            "And that would be…?"

            She shrugged. "I dunno. Can I just _please_ go up to her room and get it?" Touya sighed. "Yeah. Go ahead. It's obvious you won't tell me what you're really after. Just… don't take any of Sakura's stuff."

            Tomoyo feigned offence. "Touya-san, dear Touya-san. How can you accuse me of such felonies." She took off into the house, skipping up the stairs. "Thanks!" She cried over her shoulder. 

            "Eh," He threw himself back onto the sofa, and resumed his television watching. 

            Tomoyo carefully opened the door to Sakura's room, and peeked in. On her desk, several Clow cards were spread out, and in the center of the ring, a small yellow animal admired them. He turned his head as she entered, and his concentrated features took on a look of excitement. "Hey, Tomoyo! How'd you get in here? _Why'd_ you get in here?"

            She looked over her shoulder to see if the Guardian Beasts' loud greeting had alerted Sakura's brother, but no sign of activity came from downstairs. She pressed her finger onto her lips in a motion of silence towards Cerberus. "Ssshhhh," she hissed. "Sakura needs your help, she's underneath your window!"

            Kero-chan, puzzled, flew over to the window and looked out. "I see Sakura and the other two brats, but… what's going on."

            Tomoyo flew over to Sakura's desk and began gathering the cards. "They sense a Clow card."

            He turned his head, now even more confused. "Clow Card? ….I don't sense anything." However, Tomoyo gave it little thought, and merely shrugged. "They did say it was growing fainter as they came towards here. Maybe it's disappeared altogether. I don't know, I don't have any magical powers." She gathered all the cards into one big pile and slipped it into the only pocket that her school uniform allowed for. She walked over to the window, opened it, and stuck her head out.

            "Hey, Daidouji!" Meiling called up from below. "What took you?"

            "Sakura's brother took some convincing. I've got the cards, but I don't know where the key is."

            "It's on the third drawer from the left, where the Clow Book is!" Sakura called up, trying to make her voice just loud enough to be heard by Tomoyo, but not by Touya. She went to Sakura's desk and opened the drawer that she'd indicated. Shuffling papers,  and the Clow Book, she soon found her prize, a small key with a knob resembling a bird's head on its end. Grabbing it, she also looked around for a random book, which she could claim, had been her purpose all along. Shutting the drawer, she headed for the door. "Kero-chan," she said. "Go out the window, we're going to need your help."

            He nodded, and flew slowly out of the open portal, into the cool morning breeze. "All right," he acknowledged Tomoyo. "But I still don't sense any Clow Card."

            She gently closed the door behind her and waked down the stairs, clutching the book, Alice in Wonderland, she noticed as she entered the living room where Touya was once again watching TV, to her breast. 

            He turned his head ever so slightly to gaze towards her. "Find what you needed?"

            Tomoyo nodded. "I did, thank you very much." Sakura's brother shrugged and turned his attention back to television, as she went out the door and snuck around to the back of the house, where everyone was still gathered.

            Sakura turned her head as her friend walked around the corner. She smiled. "Great job, Tomoyo! Have you got the cards and key?"

            "Of course," she responded in mock offence. Producing the items, she handed them to Sakura. 

            "All right," Li said, breaking the mood. "What about my ceremonial sword and Rashinban?"

            "Oh, yeah. I forgot," Sakura muttered. "Well, I guess we could use the Fly Card to take us to your house."

            "But, Sakura," Tomoyo interjected. "there isn't enough room for all of us."

            Li shrugged. "It's about time you two got back to class," he indicated Meilin and Tomoyo. "There's nothing you can do to help. You're just getting in the way. You've gotten Sakura her staff and cards. You can't fight, you're only endangering yourselves."

            Meiling's stunned face betrayed her feelings. "Syaoran!" She shrieked. "I thought we'd gone over this! I'm not a baby! I can handle myself!"

            His expression relaxed to one of exasperated humor. "Look, Meiling. What we really need for you to do right now is get back to school. Kaho-sensei is going to want to know where we are. Washroom breaks don't take an hour."

            "But, what'll we tell her?" Tomoyo asked. Li turned around to face her. "That we're sick. We felt really badly so we asked to go home, and the principal let us."

            Meiling raised an eyebrow. "I don't think it's going to work. Who'd believe a story like that?"

            "Just go. She needs some explanation." Tomoyo turned to Sakura, as if asking permission. The cardcaptor merely smiled. "You can go, Tomoyo. Li's right, we need an excuse for why we're cutting school. I'm sorry, but you won't be able to tape me. Not this time."

            It was enough for Sakura's friend to be told once, and she smiled, walking out onto the street in the direction of Tomoeda School, Meiling running after. Sakura did a quick glance around the yard to make sure nobody was watching, and lifted up the Clow Key that Tomoyo had brought her. She let go of the small object, and it magically stayed in place, not falling to the ground like it should. Sakura spread her arms out wide, the key still motionless.

"O Key that hides the power of the dark, by covenant reveal thy true form to me!" The small object grew, the head enlarging to the size of the girl's fist, while the end elongated to about Sakura's height. 

"This, Sakura commands! RELEASE!" She yelled as the key completed its transformation, grabbing a card, emblazoned on one side with an illustration of a giant glowing bird. 

            "Stand back!" she said quietly, throwing the long card into the air in front of her, still wary of her brother inside the house. She brought  her sealing staff down onto the card in midair. "FLY!"

            Sakura grabbed the card as it floated to the ground. Putting it in her pocket, she turned to her staff, now rapidly growing large wings out of its back. With a final pull, they stretched out, ready for use. Sakura hoisted on leg over, and sat down on it. She turned to Li, who was looking very nervous. "What are you waiting for?" she asked, annoyed. "Get on!"

            Li shuffled over to where Sakura was waiting. Nervous, he stiffly lifted one leg over the long staff as he had seen her do, and sat on, still uncomfortable. 

            Sakura's feet pushed them off the ground in a wild rush. The two children were soaring above the houses in a matter of seconds, Kero-chan rushing to keep up with the Fly card, an acceleration that proved too much for Li. He screamed, his nausea, nervousness, and general cynicism pouring out. "Omae!" he shouted. "I think I'm going to fall!"

            "Grab on, then!" Sakura said, enjoying both the exhilarating sensation of flight, and that of Li's misery.

            "Grab on to what?"

            "To _me_!" She shouted over the roaring wind. Sakura herself was clutching onto the end of her staff with the practiced dignity of an expert flyer.

            Li's face went white with unease. He awkwardly put his hands on Sakura's hips, but not making enough contact to offer any grip. She was bent over the staff, scanning the ground for her friends' house. "Li! Do you know where your house is from up here?"

            His distracted mind was brought back to the real world. He searched the patchwork of roofs below him, realizing just how similar they all looked. "I have no idea! I've only been living in Tomoeda for a few months!" He tried to excuse himself.

            "Wait!" Sakura shrieked, her face brightening. "Don't you live three blocks north of the Library?"

            Li searched his memory. "Yeah!" He realized. "That's right!" With a sudden lurch, the staff went into a nosedive, heading towards a roof that seemed more and more familiar with each passing meter. "That's my house!" He said, too softly for Sakura to hear. "You found it!" He yelled.

            The flying staff went even with the ground, coming to a neat landing on Li's driveway. Relieved, Li removed his hands and got off, delighted with the feeling of firm ground under his feet again. The wings stayed in place. "Go inside!" Sakura commanded. "Get your stuff and hurry, I can barely sense that Clow Card anymore!"

            Kero spoke for the first time since leaving the house. "I still don't sense anything at all. Are you sure about this, guys?"

            Li snorted. "I always said that you were losing your touch, stuffed animal."

 A flash crossed the Guardian Beast's face. "I'm going to let that one go. Just get in the house and grab your stuff." Shooting one last dirty look at Cerberus, Li ran into the house, leaving Sakura and Kero-chan alone in the front.

            "See?" Kero said, a smug look on his face. "He's as alive and obnoxious as ever!" This drew a giggle from her, but it did nothing to soothe her ever-mounting feeling of doom. "Speaking of which, are you _sure_ you feel nothing? Absolutely nothing?" 

            He closed his eyes, opening his little heart to the magical energies that abounded everywhere, but still could not sense the particular ki that appertained to Clow Reed's unique brand of magic. He shook his head. "Nope. Maybe that Li kid's right, maybe I am losing my magical powers."

            "All the more reason for me to hurry up and capture the Cards so you'll have your full range of magic back."

            Their conversation was interrupted by a yell of "Ja mata ne!" as Li slammed the door behind him and ran down his driveway, with sword, Rashinban, and ceremonial robes all equipped.

            "Li!" Sakura blinked. "You had time to change?" He turned away, as if embarrassed. "It's my duty to wear these Li-family robes whenever I make a capture. It's tradition."

            "Oh," Sakura nodded understandingly. "Well, you're going to have to use your Rashinban if we want to find that card. It's too distant for me to sense its direction."

            Syaoran opened up a fold in his robes and took out a small board, a glowing gem in its center, and Chinese characters spread across it, each one representing the magical elements. He closed his eyes as he descended into the familiar depths of concentration he attained each time the Rashinban powers were required. However, the familiar realization of knowledge that hit him when the board detected Clow Reed's magic. Nor did the beam of light shoot out of its center towards the source of the magic. In fact, nothing happened. He opened his eyes, confused. "What's wrong, Li?" Sakura stood, expectant. 

            Syaoran simply shook his head and tried again, with no results. He stood dumbstruck, the Rashinban hanging limply in his hand. "It's not working…" he said softly, amazed. 

            "What's not working?" Sakura asked, alarmed. She could see by the shocked look on his face that, for some reason, his Rashinban had failed him.

            "I don't know what's wrong with it," Li muttered.

            "Maybe we're just too far away for it to work," Sakura suggested kindly, trying to offer a solution.

            Li nodded absently. "Yeah, I think that's it," he said in a tone that clearly indicated that he did not.

            "Well then," Kero-chan said. "The only thing we can do is fly around until we can find it!" Sakura nodded in agreement.

Li's insides quivered at the thought of having to brave another flight, and he was still confused as to his malfunctioning Rashinban. He nodded, nevertheless, and boarded without comment. Once again they were soaring through the air, Li in the same uncomfortable position, hands gripping Sakura's hips as a last resort against falling. He forced himself to forget his current plight, and to concentrate on the task of finding the Clow Card. Surrendering himself to the world of unseen spirits, he realized that they were drawing closer to it.

            "Sakura knows what she's doing," he told himself bitterly. "Like she always has…" Suddenly, the staff went up into a wide arc, and came down spinning. Li could here Sakura screaming, but only once their course had returned to something resembling smoothness, did Li realize that her screams were not those of terror, but of sheer, unbridled exhilaration. His shocked face betrayed his features. "Are you crazy?"

            She turned her head to the side. "Wasn't that fun?" A voice from the side startled Li all over again. "Lighten up, kid!" He looked towards the source of the voice to see Cerberus flying alongside them.

            "You can fly this high, and… this fast?" 

            "You'd be surprised as to what I can do," Kero admonished the terrified flyer. Li's attention was drawn elsewhere, however. He was tense, no longer worried about his predicament. And by the sudden tensing of Sakura's hips, which he realized with a start that he was still clutching onto, he guessed she felt it too.

            "It's coming!" She said. Li nodded.

            "What's coming?" Kero said, spinning around desperately looking for whatever the two children sensed. "I DON'T SENSE ANYTHING!" He cried, exasperated. His tormented cries were lost upon the pair, as they sensed their target drawing closer.

            A sudden realization hit Sakura. "It's…It's _aiming_ for us!" Li squinted in the direction of the magical force, trying to catch any glimpse of their attacker. His eye caught something, and in a matter of seconds, he could see a small red dart flying towards them.

            "DOWN!" He yelled, pushing on Sakura's back hard enough to send the Clow staff into a nosedive, narrowly avoiding the dart, which was now where they had been a few seconds before. The dart rotated in midair and shot off after Kero-chan.

            "That thing's magically driven!" Li exclaimed.

            "Is that bad?" Sakura asked, concerned for her friend, who was busy flying and exclaiming just how better off he'd be if he could return to his true form.

            "That means the thing can seek out whatever its master wants it to find. Or whatever _it_ wants to find." Li explained, fighting down an ever-increasing fear. "Poor Kero…" was all Sakura could say as the Guardian Beast strafed to the left, narrowly avoiding the attacker. "We have to attract its attention and get it down onto the ground, so we can fight!"

            Sakura, eager to help Kero-chan, immediately started going towards the small red dart, a sudden movement that caught Li off by guard, unbalancing him for a few seconds before his hands found their familiar place on Sakura's hips. She drove the staff in between the attacker and its prey, but that did nothing to stop the former's relentless assault, and only a quick pull saved them from being struck themselves. 

            "This isn't working!" Sakura pointed out needlessly. 

            "Just grab Kero and head for ground level." Li was prepared for the sudden jerk this time, and he was unphased as the staff flew in towards Kero. Sakura's outstretched hand plucked Cerberus from the skies and clutched him to her breast. Suddenly, the staff was heading straight down, leaving Li's stomach behind. Sakura leveled out at the last minute, and much to his relief, they were once again on solid ground. However, they did not have long to enjoy the sensation.

            "It's coming towards us again!" Sakura shrieked, pointing towards a barely visible point in the sky that was slowly growing larger. 

            "Do something! Stop it!" Li shouted. For the first time that day, Sakura finally considered using a Clow Card against it. "Of course!" she said, enlightened. "I'll send it off course!"

            She dug around inside her breast pocket, and brought out a card. Throwing it up in the air, she called "Windy! Go and blow the dart off course!" The sealing staff, which no longer had wings, came down headfirst onto the card. White tendrils of magical energy snaked outwards from the focal point the card provided. They materialized into a familiar shape, that of a magical spirit in the form of a woman. Windy smiled at them briefly before setting out to do its mission. It sailed upwards, towards their attacker, and wrapped it in a wreath of violent, unabating wind. However, the dart seemed unconcerned with this new obstacle, and merely pierced the wind, going through it. Windy smiled a sad smile, apologizing for failing in its quest, before once again returning to the wisps of magic it had come from, flying down faster than the dart, to materialize once again as a card in front of Sakura.

            "Too late!" Syaoran shouted, jumping on top of Sakura, pinning her to the ground. He waited for a second before opening his eyes. He was staring down onto Sakura's face, which looked an equal mix of fright and shock. 

            "Li!" She whispered. "…Arigatou."

            His face flushed, and he rolled off of her, and got up, looking at the spot where they'd been standing. A small, glowing red dart was quivering, implanted into the cement. Sakura got up as well, peering intently at the bolt.

            "This is it!" she said, astonished.

            Kero, who had finally managed to descend down to their level, flew to her shoulder. "Thanks for waiting," he said, upon deaf ears. "Hey, what's that?" The dart caught his notice.

            "That's the Clow Card we've been sensing," Sakura told him. Surprise registered on Cerberus' face. "What?" He said, puzzled. "No, that can't be… there's no card like that. And I still don't sense anything, even though it's right in front of me."

            Silence fell as all three looked down at the object. Suddenly, it started glowing brighter. As the Windy card had done, it dissolved into vines of magical energy, amounting to much more than the tiny dart would have allowed. The rogue tendrils gathered together and started forming a shape. Li grabbed Sakura's hand and started running in the opposite direction, because the girl herself was caught in a daze, not believing what was happening. Like a Clow Card, the dart apparently had a visible form. However, while the Clow Cards resembled kind, if rebellious, spirits, pulsing with positive energy. This abomination looked like a daemon straight out of the festering pits. Red fire adorned the magical beast, and energy of pure malice and horror streamed off of it, sending chills into the souls of the two children.

            Sakura was trembling madly, a sudden barrage of sweat clinging to her forehead. "No…" she muttered. "That's… not right!" Li felt the same way, but he tried his hardest to appear strong, unphased. For Sakura. Cerberus, for his part, seemed not to notice anything. "Man, that thing's ugly!" He said, completely unaffected by the horrors plaguing the cardcaptors. He turned towards Sakura. "Well, what are you waiting for? Capture that card!"

            Li answered for her. "I don't know if we can. I'm starting to doubt that thing's even a Clow Card at all!" Kero pondered this. "Yeah, that would make sense. Since Clow Reed created me, I might only be able to sense his magic. If I can't sense this… it must not be his at all!"

            Sakura looked up, still trembling. "It wouldn't hurt to try sealing it anyway."

            Li looked at her, on all fours. "Do you think you can fight?" Sakura nodded uneasily. "Yeah. But I'm sensing something so… so wrong. It's making me sick. That thing over there shouldn't exist."

            Li gawked at her. He had never seen this side of her. He had treasured her because of her acceptance and love of everyone and everything. Never had he heard her say bad about anything, much less question their right to exist. Tears streamed down Sakura's cheeks, moistening the ground beneath her. "It hurts, Li." She moaned. "That thing's so evil it hurts."

            Although Li could definitely feel malevolence pouring out of the creature, it wasn't to that point, and he had a feeling that for some reason, this was affecting  her a lot more than him or Kero-chan. He drew his sword from the scabbard hanging at its waist, and pointed it straight at the demon beast. "I'm going to seal you!" He exclaimed. "And rid the world of your abomination!" 'And get Sakura back,' he added to himself mentally. "I don't know what you are, or who created you, but you're mine!"

            Li's speech seemed to either frighten or amuse the spirit, as it emitted what could be interpreted as a laugh, had it not been ear splittingly loud and painful. The cry sent Sakura off the deep end, and she lapsed into fits of screaming and crying, mixing into a routine that wrenched Li's heart. The beast, meanwhile, had started circling around his prey, the three figures huddled in a circle, two in pain and one in confusion.

            Syaoran forced himself to ignore her for a while, an objective that was quite familiar to him, but one to which success was not. He shut out his heart to her pitiful cries, and instead turned his attention towards the beast, who was licking his chops. Syaoran, hoping for the element of surprise, charged it without warning, both hands supporting his blade in a forward thrust. It jumped to the side, out of the way, and batted Li aside with his tail. It was wreathed in flames, and as such, sent pain throughout his body. Sakura struggled to her feet, wishing to aid her friend. Still stuttering, she weakly pulled out a card from her pouch. "I'm going to fight fire with Fire!" She threw the card into the air. "Firey!" 

            The aggressive fire spirit charged the other. Unlike Windy before it, Firey was not prone to gentleness or pity. It launched a fireball at the enemy, which was absorbed easily. Kero flew to Sakura's side. "That's not going to work! Firey's just feeding that thing's power! You've got to use another card! You were on the right track with using an Elemental card, but Firey's not the one!"

"I've already tried Windy," Sakura thought. "Firey's not doing anything. So the only thing left is… Watery!" She summoned the second elemental, which seemed to have a higher degree of success. It crashed into the beast, seeming to do some damage as it howled in pain, froth lining its mouth. 

Li got up, recovered from the tail whack. He opened a fold in his robe and took out a flimsy-looking card with several Chinese characters emblazoned on it. He threw it up in the air and met it with his sword. "Element Lightning! Strike!" Bolts of electricity crackled through the air, striking the enemy. It flinched, but was not significantly harmed. The only visible effect Li's card seemed to have on it was to anger the spirit even more. It rotated until it was facing him, his eyed narrowed, focusing on its prey. It pounced, jumping onto the helpless boy, pinning him to the ground.

Sakura gasped. "Kero-chan! I've got to get that thing off of Li-kun!"

            The beast bent its head down, opened its jaws, and bit Syaoran's shoulder. The boy screamed in pain and terror, his eyes wide, registering agony. The spirit, however, seeming to gain energy from the attack, grew larger, stronger, and a tad more vicious. The beast lifted a paw, ready to bat Syaoran's head off. It 

            "Silent!" Sakura called, summoning the Clow Card's powers. Li's terrified screaming set off the spell, teleporting him across the street, out of the demon's grasp. Sakura had been ready, not willing to give it a chance to attack again.

            "Fight! Sword!" She used the two cards simultaneously. A thin, razor sharp sword materialized in her hand. As well, she was granted expert martial skills to be able to make full use of her weapon. 'Only one step left in this killer combo!'

            "Power!" She used yet another card, endowing her with strength to match. She held the sword out at arms length as she had seen Li do. The beast turned his head slightly to catch her eye, and Sakura could feel her muscles failing her. But memories of Li, and the recent torture inflicted upon him, drove her will. However, her enemy seemed to have only a passing interest in her increased skills, and instead, turned back towards Li, who was leaning against a wall, bleeding profusely. Sakura was not discouraged, and decided to charge the beast madly, sword held out ready to fend off any surprise attack. It made no move as Sakura slashed its hind leg, all she could reach, with the Sword. It howled in surprise, and turned around, forgetting its prey. Sakura trembled, but kept her weapon in front of her. The beast leaped as it had done before, seeming to forget the fact that his adversary was holding  a very sharp object. Sakura held the sword straight up as it came down on top of her, implanting itself onto her weapon.

            "Now, Sakura!" Kero called. "Throw him, now!"

            With the beast still impaled, and aided by her magical strength, she swung her sword towards a wall, sending the beast flying and crashing. It slumped down, defeated.

            She held up her staff behind her back, about to perform a ritual she was very familiar with. "Return to as you once were!" She stopped herself in mid-incantation. Normally she would finish with the name of the card, or simply with 'Clow Card!' However, she had no idea what card this was, and she was pretty sure it wasn't a Clow Card at all. "Card!" She shouted out simply, hoping it would be enough.

            It was. The beast let out a howl, but nonetheless, he disappeared, a small piece of paper floated down in its place. As soon as it became evident that the threat was over, Sakura broke into a run and went to Li's side. Kero, meanwhile, flew over to the side of the alley, and started examining Sakura's new card. She supported his head with her hand. He was lying in a pool of blood, all of which had come out of the wound in his shoulder, staining his green robes an unattractive brown. "Are you OK?" She asked, worried. She knew how humiliating this must be for her friend, who never liked to be shown as having any weakness. Syaoran's face, contorted in pain, did not betray that feeling. "I'm fine." He managed to say. 

            "We've got to get you to a hospital!" He could hear Sakura's voice fading away, as if he was growing distant. He dimly remembered being hoisted onto the Clow Staff, and flying away…


	4. Familiar Blood

**Chapter 3**

Flashes of light.

            Pain. Suffering. 

            Magic.

            Li was distant. He couldn't make out any details, but those were clear. There was a battle going on, a magical one. Spells flew back and forth, annihilating life on both sides. Such a waste, Li thought. In the hazy mists of insubstantiality, he tried to make out more detail. But none more became clear. And as suddenly as he had appeared on that battlefield, he was yanked out. His eyes shot open, expecting to see a demonic face stretching out towards him, engulfing him.

            Destroying him.

            Instead, he perceived two crystal-green eyes, pity and sorrow reflected into them. Li shot up, looking around, and was rewarded by a debilitating flash of pain, which sent him lying back down.

            "Li-kun!" A sweet voice called out, carrying the same properties as her eyes. Syaoran struggled to identify the voice, the eyes, so familiar to him. So dear. 

            "Sakura?" he whispered, than suddenly realized what he had called her. "Ah!" He came up once again, shocked, and ignoring the pain. "Gomen!" 

            Sakura giggled in spite of herself. "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're OK." Li, however, was still a deep shade of red, humiliated by his slip. "You got the card, didn't you?"  She nodded.

"What was it?" he asked. 

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know. It's definitely not a Clow Card, Kero assured me of that. Here, maybe you can figure something out." She took something off of the counter next to his bed, and handed it to him, a card. Li tried to focus his eyes enough to read the small text written underneath, identifying it. "The Blood." He read. "That's not a card!" Slamming his fist on the counter in anger, he turned the card over. While Clow Cards had a backing representing the Magic Circle that appeared whenever one used them, this card had a red pentagram on a black background. "This is… this is really wrong." He said, shocked. "It's an evil mockery of a Clow card! There's no such thing as The Blood!"

            "I know," Sakura said softly, as upset as Li. "But that's not a Clow card. We still don't know what it is. As soon as you get better, we need to call your mom in Hong Kong. She might know what's going on."

            If Syaoran was going to answer that, he didn't have the chance, as Meiling burst through the door, a concerned look on her face, ran over to the other side of the bed, and wrapped Li in a hug. By the shaking of her back, he could tell she was crying. "Damn you, Syaoran," she said amidst her tears. "This is what you get for not bringing me along."

            Li afforded one of his rare smiles at the girl. She withdrew herself, and he could see her smiling in relief despite the redness of her face. "Arigatou, Meiling-chan." He said softly. 

            "When Sakura told me what happened…" Meilin continued, voice trembling, "I thought… I… you… never mind. What's important is that you're OK." She used her sleeve to wipe her eyes, leaving a dark, wet blot on her school uniform. "And that next time, you make sure I'm there with you!"

            He grinned. "I'll make sure of that."

            Another visitor charged through the door, holding a camera. As soon as she saw Syaoran upright, her smile faded. "Oh no!" She said, disappointed. "You're awake."

            He was taken aback. "Sorry for staying alive, I guess" he muttered. Tomoyo saw that she had been misunderstood, smiled and waved her hand. "No, it's just that I wanted to tape the revival of Tomoeda's hero!" She put her camcorder onto the counter, still turned on. "I'm glad you're alright, Li-kun."

            Syaoran was unused to such large amounts of pity and affection, and it did not much suit him. Instead, he turned to Sakura. "I think I've figured out how the Blood card works."

            Sakura smiled. "So did we. Actually, it was more Kero's idea. It steals life energy from the target, with its bite, probably, and uses it to strengthen itself. What we haven't figured out is who would make such a thing. It definitely wasn't Clow Reed. That feeling… that sickness that came over me, Kero-chan says its because I can sense the creator's power, and that its evilness defiles me."

            "What worries me," Li said, "is the chance that there might be more of these." He took another look at the back of the card. "We don't know if this is the only one. There might be five. Or ten. Or a whole deck of them!"

            "That's OK!" Tomoyo interrupted their conversation, not being able to contain her excitement at what she was hearing. "You two can capture them all! You seem to be handling the Clow Cards just fine."

            "It's not the same!" Li said angrily. "You didn't see that thing. It was vicious. Clow Cards are mischievous, but they don't really want to destroy anything. One of these things wouldn't think twice about killing us!"

            "He's right, Tomoyo-chan," Sakura said sadly. "And this feeling came over me when I drew near to The Blood. It's horrible… a fear of something far worse than death." 

            The raven-haired girl's enthusiasm didn't seem to die down much. She simply smiled at their dark prediction. "I have absolute faith that you'll do just fine!" Walking around the bed, she picked up her camcorder and zoomed in on Li's startled face. 

            Meiling, who had sat down on a small wooden chair in the corner, broke her long silence. "Well," she said, pointing at Sakura accusingly. "As long as I'm there, I think Daidouji is right! Syaoran and I can handle ourselves. But for now," her finger turned to a waving motion, "we must leave Syaoran alone."

            Li watched sorrowfully as his friends filtered out of the room, secretly sorry that he was, once again, alone.

            Dreams. Sakura had once said that for one with magical abilities such as him, dreams were like a gateway to the future, a prophecy. But Li distinctly knew, in ways  even he could not explain, that what he was experiencing was undoubtedly from the past. Flashes of light, pale beams flew back and forth between the two warring sides. Bodies dropped to the ground, charred, and aflame in magical fire.

            Li was closer than the first time he had experienced it. He had suspected that there was some meaning to his visions when the initial dream took place. Now he was sure of it. Closer, he could make out facial expressions on the faces of the dying wizards. All of them were contorted into rage, pain, fear, and the common factor, hate. Like before, Li tried to put everything into focus, tried to get closer, see who the mysterious generals on either side of the fighting were. And, like before, Li shot back into consciousness just as the hazy details distinguished themselves. He shot up out of bed. It took him several agonizing seconds for him to realize that he was no longer on that distant battlefield, but rather in the small house he shared with Wei. However, being freed from the prison of his dreams did not serve to satisfy him in the least. Instead, he sighed, and fell back onto his bed. Li realized that it was the middle of the night. Soft moonlight cast dancing shadows throughout his small room. He'd put it off long enough. He would have to call home now. And ask about the new cards.

            Sighing, he got up off the bed and made the short trip to the counter where his cordless phone sat resting. He had tried earlier that day to make the fateful call to his mother, the person who terrified him more than any other human alive. But he had put it off long enough.

            'She's only human,' he reminded himself, as he dialed the Hong Kong number. Putting it up to his ear, he could hear the phone ring once. Twice. Still nobody picked up, and Syaoran was starting to hope that perhaps she was out. However, after five rings, a click on the line indicated it had been picked up, and Li heard his mother's commanding voice. "I have been waiting for you to call, Li."

            "Konban wa, Okaasan." He responded politely, not at all set back by her uncourteous greeting. He was slightly alarmed at her expectancy, as if she had known something was wrong.

            "Why have you not called me earlier, Syaoran?" she continued her inquiry, oblivious to his attempts at politeness.

            "What makes you think I had reason?" he countered, just as coldly, now certain that she had somehow found out herself about the new cards. 

            "Don't play the fool, Syaoran." She snapped. "I have sensed it, too."

            "How could you have? You're hundreds of miles away." He said, even though he knew his mother's powers would sense a Clow Card from across the ocean.

            "I will not dignify that question with a response." She said. "However, I have also sensed that it has been sealed." 

            "It wasn't me" Li said bravely, as if daring his mother to resent it. "It was Sakura."

            "Ah, yes. The girl." Her mother said. "I am proud of you two. You have both grown strong." Li was taken aback. Compliments from his mother were rare, and praise for his failure was rarer still.

            "My Rashinban," he said, eager to ask the question that had been plaguing him since his board had failed to work. "It… it-"

            "Doesn't work, I know," his mother finished for him. "Do not be alarmed, Syaoran-kun. It is no fault of your own, nor of the Rashinban's."

            "Then, what?"

            "We are a family descending from Clow Reed. We have his magic running through our veins, and his powers at our disposal. The Rashinban was created to detect Clow Cards. The magic you are dealing with is something else entirely."

            "We'd figured out that much." Li said. "But they're cards of some kind. It seems Clow Reed wasn't the only one to use cards as a focus for his powers?"

            "No. He was not." His mother said. "A man worked for him, an apprentice. He was with him when Clow  Reed developed the idea of storing his magic as spirits inside cards as a physical barrier. However, his servant, Deshi Nowarui, had conflicting opinions as to what the Cards should be used for. With a magic as potent and dangerous as Clow Reeds, he thought that it would be a great idea to attack the world powers, bring down all the governments."

            "Pretty much rule the world, right?" Li said.

            "In essence, yes. He suggested it to Clow Reed, and of course, was turned down. Deshi stayed on a few more months to improve his own magical talents and learn the secret of storing spells in cards, then left Clow and went to perfect his own dark style of magic to complete his dark ends."

            "Did Clow Reed ever go after him, try to stop him?"

            "Well, of course he did. They waged a long and bloody battle before Clow Reed finally won in the end. Most of Deshi's cards were sealed, but a few got away. Clow gave up trying to find the last few, and went back and created Cerberus and Yue to act as his apprentices and guardians to replace Deshi."

            "I see," Li said, glad to have his questions answered at long last. "So that is why my Rashinban failed to detect it."

            "Yes," his mother answered. "But there is one more thing, Li. After Clow Reed opened hostilities on him, Deshi grew to hate him very bitterly. When you went to Japan, I think you have renewed that feud."

            Li gasped as he realized where his mother was getting at. "You mean-"

            "Yes. Most likely the cards are specifically targeting you, hoping to settle the score with Clow in one way or another."

            "What about Sakura? Why does she go sick whenever we go near one?"

            "She is more sensitive to magic than you may think. And unlike you, she is open to magic of all kinds, not just Clow Reed's."

            "I see," Li said, honestly. "Thank you, mother. You have put me at ease."

            "Do not feel at ease. Deshi's magic is more brutal than Clow Reed's. Beware. I am not sure if you and Sakura are strong enough to face this challenge. Do not fail me, Li."

            "I won't," Li said, and abruptly shut off the phone, withdrew it from his ear, and stared at it long and hard, as he pondered what he had just learned.

            Sakura groaned as she scraped her face off the ground. Crawling on all fours, she turned around to see what had tripped her. The offending object was quickly realized, as it was about the size of a chessboard. It was plain black except for a small white circle in the middle. Sakura picked it up. It was strangely heavy, and its back was identical to its front, save for the absence of the white circle. It was nothing that Sakura could identify. Shrugging, she got up and continued down the hall into her room.

            Kero-chan looked up from his video game as she entered the room, still clutching the black board. Thinking it was some kind of treat from him, he quickly pressed the Pause button on the controller, and zoomed up in the air to face level. "For me?" He inquired.

            Sakura had a puzzled look on her face for a few seconds before realizing that Kero-chan was referring to the board she had found. She held it up to show him that it wasn't anything edible. "It's just some board I found on the ground," she explained, walking over to her desk and throwing the board into one of her drawers carelessly. 

            Kero-chan, disappointed, wafted back down to his controller, and began the rapid game once again. Between the blaring roar of the game car's engines, and Kero-chan's delighted yells, Sakura barely heard her phone ring. She turned her head to make sure she had really heard it ringing, and when she was quite positive of the distinctive sound, got up out of her seat and ran to the phone. She turned it on as she held it up to her ear. "Kinomoto residence."

            "Sakura?" A confused voice came from the other end.

            "Oh!" She said, surprised. Syaoran never called her. "Li-kun! What's wrong?"

            "I just talked to my mom. She knows exactly what's going on."

            Sakura was suddenly alert. Running upstairs, she tore Kero-chan away from his game, much to his dismay, and made him listen carefully as Li unfolded the story of Deshi Nowarui, his war with Clow Reed, and the remaining few cards. Syaoran was, however, completely unaware of just how much fear this was sending through Sakura, as memories of her recent dream flashed through her head. 

            "They're specifically targeting you?" She asked, not daring believe it. Syaoran confirmed this, but assured her that he would be just fine. Sakura felt that he deserved an explanation. "Li-kun… I… I've been having this dream."

            Li, on the other line, gasped. "Me too!"

            Now it was Sakura who was surprised. Maybe if Li had it too, then it was nothing… or maybe that just made it more deadly. "It must be that we're having the same one. I'm standing on a building and you're on the Tokyo Tower, and you're… you're…"

            A loud burring came across the line, an upheaval of air that epitomized disappointment. "No. That's not the same as mine. I've had it twice so far. It's a battle, a magical one, and it's between two sides. There's generals on each side, but I can't make out who they are."

            "Well, isn't it obvious?" Kero-chan said. "It's Clow and Deshi. It must be that one of them is trying to tell you something."

            Li, across the city at his own home, was amazed at the lucidity, the painful obviousness of that theory. Of _course_ it was Deshi and Clow fighting. He should have realized that as soon as his mother had told him they had fought. "Oh, yeah. That could be it," he said. Something else was bugging him. Something Sakura'd said. "In your dream, you said I was something. What did you want to say?"

            Her heart fell, having hoped that Li hadn't noticed her being cut off. "You were dead, Li-kun." 

            Silence on the other line. After a few long seconds, Syaoran said, "I see. Well, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Just be careful." He hung up, leaving Sakura with even more questions to ask herself.

            The whole house shook with Sakura's resounding cry of "I'm late! Again!" In half a minute, she was running down the stairs, her school uniform hastily donned, her mass of hair untidy. She skidded into the living room where Touya was calmly reading a newspaper. She glared at him angrily, wrath in her eyes. "ONIISAN! Who turned off my alarm clock?!?"

            "I did, monster."

            "Why would you do something like that?"

            "Because it's Saturday, monster." He said calmly, sipping a cup of tea, never looking up from his paper.

            "That's not important! I've got plans to go to the park with Tomoyo-chan!"

            Touya looked at his sister for the first time that day, and scanned her up and down. "In that?" he said simply, referring to her school uniform.

            Sakura looked at her clothes, checking to see what her brother meant. When she saw what she was wearing, she let out another tortured moan, ran back to her room, and came down in half a minute wearing casual clothes. "I'm leaving," she called out as she ran through the door.

            "No breakfast?" Touya, always looking out, asked.

            "No, we're going to grab something to eat at the park!" She slammed the door and ran out onto the sidewalk, gulping in the sweet morning air. Clouds in the air were scarce, and the sun beat down mercilessly onto the planet. Overall, it was a great day to be alive, Sakura-chan thought. She started heading towards Tomoyo-chan's mansion, but stopped when Tomoyo turned the corner. 

            "Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura called out happily. "I thought I was supposed to come to your house!"

            The girl beamed happily. "You were, but you woke up late, _ne_? I decided to meet you halfway."

            Sakura smiled nervously. "Thank you, Tomoyo-chan. Shall we go?"

            She nodded, and the two went off towards Tomoeda Park. The two girls drank in the beauty of the morning light, delighting in the warmth. Sakura looked down from admiring a weeping willow to see Li, with his back turned to them, standing by a confectionary stand, buying something.

            "Tomoyo-chan," Sakura elbowed her, "look! It's Li-kun!"

            She looked in the direction her friend was pointing at, and her face lit up. "You're right! And there's Meiling!"

            Indeed, Meiling had turned the corner and was now in full view, grabbing Li's arm and hanging onto it affectionately, much to his dismay. 

            "Li!" Sakura called out. He and Meiling, still clutching his arm, turned their heads, a stunned look on their faces. Li's degraded as the source of the voice was confirmed, and Meiling's face lit up. "Daidouji-san!" she said to Tomoyo. "What brings you here!"

            Tomoyo giggled. "We were just going to the park for the day."

            Li's face grew bright red in misery, as Meiling announced that they had made the exact same plans, and suggested they spend it together.

            They bought some ice cream from the confectionary stand, and began walking through the trees. Sakura fell back to join Li, who was walking by himself at the back of the line.

            "Do they know yet?" She said, licking her cone.

            Li nodded. "I called them up and told them." His cone was untouched. 

            They found a bench and sat down in it. The girls laid back, stretched, while Li sat awkwardly, starting on his ice cream, which was dripping down the cone, onto his fingers.

            Fear.

            Sakura shot up. She looked around, desperate.

            Struggling.

            She got up, dropping her cone onto the ground. She looked around desperately. Nothing. No screams. But she had definitely sensed something.

            Control. Total control.

            "Kinomoto, what's wrong?" Li asked, a smile on his face, licking the cone voraciously.

            She made another complete turn, wary for signs of danger, but nothing appeared, so she uneasily sat back down on the park bench. She looked at Li. "Didn't you sense something?"

            "No," he said plainly. 

            Tomoyo looked concerned. "Are you OK, Sakura-chan?" Meiling smiled mischievously. "Calm down, Kinomoto! If Syaoran doesn't sense anything, it must just be your imagination."

            Sakura shook her head, "No! I felt a struggle. As if something were taking control of something else. And won."

            Li shook his head. "Don't worry, it's just your imagination."

            Sakura eyed him suspiciously. His words were coming out strange, as if rehearsed. And Li had an eerie warmness around him. And he was smiling. Li never smiles, Sakura thought.

            Tomoyo-chan got up. "Let's go for a walk!" She suggested. "We've been out in the heat too long, we should go through that forest over there, it's nice and shady!"

            They all got up and headed towards the woods. It was indeed much darker and cooler there. They walked through the thick cover of trees, until they were about halfway through. Syaoran grabbed Sakura's wrist. "Kinomoto-chan." He said, in the same stilted voice. "Come with me. There is something I need to show you." Sakura looked confused. She slowly nodded, still highly suspicious of his strange behavior. He took her deeper into the woods, leaving Tomoyo and Meiling together, and very confused.

            "What is it that you wanted to ask me, Li-kun?" Sakura asked. Li looked over his shoulder at her, a sly grin on his lips. "You will see. Come with me."

            Sakura broke his wrist grab and stepped away from him. "No, Li! Tell me now where you are taking me! You've been acting strange all day."

            He turned around, exasperated. "Sakura, come on-" he froze immediately, realizing his slip. Seeing that his cover had been blown, he quickly flew into a punch, aimed at her face. She too, had been on guard ever since he had called her 'Sakura' and was ready for it, dodging under his blow. Li was no longer smiling. His featured contorted into rage. "Come back!" He screamed. He dove for her, but she was too quick, sidestepping. He fell onto the ground, rolling. She took advantage of his position to quickly take the Clow Key out of her pocket. "O Key, that hides the power of the dark, by covenant reveal thy true form to me!" The key glowed blue, grew longer. "This, Sakura commands! RELEASE!" She grabbed the fully transformed Sealing Wand, and held it out to ward Li off.

            "What's wrong with you?" she screamed shrilly.

            "Darkness!" His voice came out raspy, as he got to his feet. "The world will succumb to darkness! Penumbra Cards will be the destruction of you all, weak mortals!" He lunged again at Sakura, and she sidestepped again, hitting his back with the Clow Staff as he flew past. He landed on the ground again, but this time managed to turn it into a roll and come up crouching. Syaoran put his hand behind his back and withdrew his sword. 

Sakura gasped. There was nothing she could do against a sword, except… "SWORD!" Her Sealing Wand became shrouded in a mist of light, and came out a sharp sword. Li jumped forward towards Sakura, blade held out towards her neck. She brought her own weapon to parry it. 

"Syaoran, what're you doing?!" A new voice broke his concentration. He turned towards the sound to find Tomoyo and Meiling looking very alarmed. "What's gotten into you?"

"Something's controlling him!" Sakura said, the solution being a sudden revelation for her. "That's gotta be it! That thing I sensed… a Clow Card is controlling him!"

"No!" Li shrieked, his voice embodying hate. "I am not a Clow Card! Never speak that name to me again! Penumbra cards are, and always have been, the superior focus. Clow Reed was a fool!"

"Penumbra cards?" Tomoyo said, getting out her camera. She pressed a button and opened the LCD screen. "So that's what they're called!"

"Whatever they are," Sakura said, trembling, the familiar wave of sickness coming to her again. "if they start using Li's magic against me, I'm toast!"

"Don't worry about it, Kinomoto!" Meiling said. "No offence, but Li's a martial arts master! If whatever's controlling him had access to his skills, you'd be gone by now. The fact that he's losing tells me that the card can't use any of his powers. And that includes magic!"

            Li seemed angry that Meiling had figured out his weakness. He hissed angrily in Sakura's direction. "With or without this fool's magical powers, I am still far superior." With a cry of rage, he threw Li's sword at her. It arced through the air towards her, but the toss was lazy, and it was no hard task for Sakura to jump out of harm's way. 

            "You've got to do something, you can't keep dodging his attacks, he's going to get you eventually!" Tomoyo said, her voice shrill with panic.

            "Don't you dare hurt him!" Meiling contradicted her. 

           "And I'm not planning on it!" Sakura dodged another sloppy kick. "This card doesn't seem to be a very good fighter. It shouldn't be much of a problem for me to hold him still long enough to seal the card. In fact," she dug around in her card pouch, "I think I've got just the thing!" She hit the card with the end of her wand. "Wood!" Immediately, powerful wooden vines shot out of the cards towards Li. They grew longer, wrapping themselves around his body, lifting him up into the air by the waist. 

            Li was shocked by this sudden change, but once the surprise wore off, he got to work slicing the branches as fast as they were created. As he chopped the last one holding him in the air, he fell three feet onto the ground, careful not to impale himself on his own weapon. Rolling to absorb the shock of impact, he jumped as several more branches flew to where he had been a second ago. 

            "This!" He landed on the ground holding his sword, as the power of the wood card began to die down. "So this is the power of a Clow Card. Impressive. Perhaps that old fool had some mind in him." He pushed off with his hand, charging Sakura, who was busy stuffing the used Wood card into her pouch. Seeing her old friend running towards her, sword poised to strike, accelerated her movements, and she quickly dug out another card. "FLY!" She jumped onto her wand, now bearing wings, just in the nick of time, shooting off into the sky not a second too late.

            'This would be a great plan,' Sakura thought, 'if only I could use cards while flying!'

            Li, looking up into the sky, seeing his prey zooming around at impossible speeds, decided upon a different tactic. Uprooting his sword from the ground where it had implanted when trying to strike Sakura, he walked over towards Tomoyo, who was still filming their battles. She looked up from the LCD display to see Li knock the camera out of her hand, grab her brusquely, wrap an arm around her waist, and position the sword to her neck.

            "Sakura!" He called out, adding even more to the realization that it was not Li saying these things, doing these things. "Come down and fight, or your friend gets it!"

            She looked down, could faintly make out Li holding somebody… "Tomoyo-chan!" she called out, realizing what Syaoran- no, the Penumbra card, she corrected herself, was planning on doing.

            Tears were suddenly streaming down Tomoyo-chan's face. "Sakura-chan!" She called out in a choked voice. "Don't come down! He'll kill you!"

            Sakura never did get a chance to save Tomoyo. A swift kick sent Li's sword flying out of his hand, landing on the grass. Shoving his would-be captive brusquely onto the ground, he turned towards his attacker. Meiling was in a martial arts stance, ready for a fight. "You don't want to pick on those two, they're defenseless! Come on, fight a real warrior."

            The look of terror on Li's face clearly said that he did not at all desire fighting anyone who had the capability to fight back. "Get away from me! You don't have any magic in you at all! You're useless!"

            Meiling's eyes flared angrily. "Useless? I'll show you useless! With or without magic, I can take you down any day." Then, much softer, she whispered, "Sorry, Syaoran" before launching into a frenzied, but deliberate, attack. Punch after kick after punch landed on the defenseless boy, pummeling him to the ground. Tomoyo, who had retrieved her camera, crowed in appreciation at her friend's onslaught. "Go Meiling!" she yelled energetically, as a well-placed kick knocked Li to the ground, blood once again soaking his clothes. The attack had taken its toll on Meiling too, however, and she was panting, sweat on her being as abundant as blood on her victim.

            Sakura, meanwhile, had landed near Tomoyo, and returned her wand to normal. She quickly ran to her friend's side. "Are you OK, Tomoyo-chan?" she inquired, genuinely worried about her friend's grueling ordeal. She simply smiled. "Of course I am, although I think my camera took quite a fall." She nodded her head in Meiling's direction. "I think she needs your help more than I do."

            Sakura nodded, running to Meiling's side, towering over Li. "Good job, I'll take it from here!" Meiling, breathless, nodded silently, and walked back to where Tomoyo was circling the two adversaries, trying to get the best shot of Sakura's capture.

            Sakura held out her staff, preparing to seal the card that had been controlling Li. "Return to thy true-" Sakura was interrupted by a swift kick on her shins, knocking her down on the ground. Li, meanwhile, had scrambled up off the ground and was running away. 

            "After him!" Tomoyo cried, already running, trying to keep up close enough to film the capture. All three of them were running after Syaoran's retreating back, but none of them were close to being able to catch up to him. 

"DASH!" Sakura took the time to stop and use the card, but it paid off. The greatly increased speed was quickly overtaking him. But as Sakura drew closer, it became increasingly obvious to her, with mounting dread, that Li had a destination. And she also seemed to remember what it was.

            He skidded to a halt inches in front of a deep, rocky cliff, sending a few stray pebbles falling down into the distant ravine. He turned around. "Stop right there!"

            Sakura also halted, holding out her hands in a desperate plea not to move. "Penumbra card, don't do it! You'll destroy yourself, too!"

            "Don't be stupid. Cards can't be destroyed. All I'll be doing is ridding the world of the one who bears Clow Reed's tainted blood. Plus," his mouth curled into a sadistic sneer, "I _know_ how important this boy is to you. I will spare him, on one condition."

            Sakura put her staff down, knowing that she was hopeless in this case, a case where her enemy must not be harmed in any way. "What do you want?"

            Li held out his hand. "The Clow Cards. All of them. Give them to me now!"

            Sakura gasped. She could feel her will exiting her, leaving behind a broken shell. She started crying. This was an impossible decision. It was either the whole world or the most important person to her.

Her dream. It started coming back to her. Li Syaoran. Dead. But it wasn't here. It wasn't like this. "No," she choked back her tears. Her hands started creeping inside her pocket, trying to make the movement unseen.

            "Go ahead." She bluffed. "Jump, see if I care. He's my rival, I don't need that much."

            Confusion and confidence played across Li's face, trying to decide if Sakura really meant what she was saying. "You're bluffing. You wouldn't sacrifice your friend."

            "The heck I wouldn't," Sakura said, not believing these words were coming out of her month. "I spent a lot of time on these cards." Still kneeling, her hand flipped through and found the card she was looking for. She slid it in between her fingers so she could pull it out rapidly. Li still hadn't seen her yet. 

            "Fine," he took a step backwards. "But remember, you are the death of him!" One more step took him off the cliff, and in one second, he was no longer visible. Quickly whipping out her reserve card, she threw it in the air and quickly activated it. "MOVE!" she mentally targeted Li, hoping it could reach him. Nothing happened. Li did not magically appear on the edge. Suddenly, Kero-chan's words came back to her.

            "Move can't target anything really big. Or anything living."

            Li was living. For the moment.

            Realizing her mistake, Sakura's heart sank, as she comprehended the result of her actions. She ran a quick mental scan of all the cards that might be of use to her. Float… no, that could only target her. Silent? No, he probably wasn't making much noise. It suddenly hit her. Quickly pulling out her card, she activated this one too. "WINDY!"

            The magical spirit seemed to sense the urgency of the situation, and so did not waste any time in emerging from the card and shooting rapidly down, parallel with the cliff wall. Sakura ran to the edge, eager to see if she had thought of it quick enough. The Windy spirit was shooting straight down at a rapid pace, but Li had already fallen a good amount. Sakura's card was catching up, but she didn't know if she'd thought of it fast enough.

            "Why'd I have to use the Move card and waste so much time?" Sakura berated herself. "If only I had Li's Time card…"

            She looked back down over the face of the cliff. Li was still plummeting with Windy in hot pursuit. Just as he would have hit the rocky face below, Sakura's card came in a long arc and caught him. Despite his struggles, he couldn't break free of her grasp as it carried him back up to where Sakura was waiting, a new card in hand. The Windy card gently laid the struggling boy onto the ground before her, and returned to card form, gently drifting down beside him. 

            Li looked up, anger and hatred melded on his face in an expression Sakura had never wanted aimed at her. Nevertheless, she continued on with her plan, using the next card in her lineup. "Illusion!"

            From the bright light that Sakura could see coming from behind her, she could tell that the illusion she's summoned was appearing there. She did not turn around to see what it was. She knew what _she_ would see. Her mother. 

            But from Li's apparent increased hatred, Sakura knew what _he_ saw. What he most wanted to see. Clow Reed.

            "You filthy thing!" He screamed in a voice that sounded like his face looked. With a sudden leap, he jumped over Sakura's head to where the illusion was. He had a few seconds to wonder why he'd gone right through Clow Reed's body before he hit the ground. Sakura was ready, having whirled around, Clow staff set. 

            "I command you to return to thy true form! Penumbra card!"

            Li knew he was beat. He didn't resist as wisps of energy materialized on his body and flew in towards Sakura's waiting staff. It arranged itself in the form of a card, which Sakura caught in midair. 

            Li, sapped of energy, lay on the ground, eyes closed, unconscious as Meiling and Tomoyo burst through the trees, having finally caught up with them.


	5. The Same Star

**CHAPTER 4**

****

**Author's Notes: Yes, I realize this chapter is short… very short. The shortest yet. But, in my opinion, it's the best one so far, and it does a lot more for the characters than everything up to this point. Enjoy!**

Li screamed. Nothing. Nobody was noticing him. He yelled at the top of his lungs at the mages busy waging a bloody battle. Nobody turned to look towards the hysterical boy. Angrily, he turned away from the front ranks, towards the back where he knew a general was waiting. Either Clow Reed. Or Deshi.  

            A man in the back was floating, without the aid of any instruments. Merely floating above the heads of his troops, shouting orders in a firm but compassionate voice. Li knew instinctively that it was his great ancestor, Clow Reed, and not the evil traitor he was fighting.

            For the first time since arriving in this strange world, Clow turned towards Li, smiling kindly. "Hello, Li Syaoran, one who bears my blood."

            He gasped. How could he see him? He wasn't actually here… he was dreaming. This wasn't real! "Clow Reed…" he managed to say, petrified.

            The smile and genuine kindness on his face was not extinguished, despite the harsh surroundings, the screams filling the air, steam rising off of charred bodies.

            "Be careful, Li Syaoran. The burdens you carry, the trials you must face… they are more difficult than anyone else's. Especially for you. You are being targeted."

            "I know that!" Li said, feeling his grip on his dream fading, being brought back to a world he had just left. Not yet, he struggled. He had more questions. "About the cards! What are they? How many more are left?"

            "Look around, Li. Your friends already have the answers to the questions you seek."

            And suddenly, Syaoran was back. His eyes shot open, and just as before, Sakura's face was watching over him, at the side of the bed.       

            "Kinomoto-chan," he said, catching himself. "Where am I? Why am I here?"

            Tears welled up in her eyes, her face was bright red. "Oh, Li-kun. You really don't remember?"

            "Remember what?" Li asked, his dream still fresh in his mind. "I remember ice cream… then this."

            Explaining his plight seemed to be a very difficult task for Sakura to handle. A tear rolled down her cheek, and fell, staining his bedclothes. She breathed in some air before trying to explain the situation to him. "You were being controlled. By another card." She brought her hand out from under the bed and handed him another card.

            "The Control," he read. "That thing took me over? Did I hurt anyone?" He asked, alarmed, searching his unconscious mind for some memory of his capture.

            Sakura shook her head, "No, Li-kun. No you didn't. You almost killed yourself though."

            Li's head shot straight up. "What?" He asked, disbelievingly.

            Sakura nodded. "Yeah. You threw yourself off a cliff. You almost died."

            Syaoran flipped the card over in his hand, saw the pentagram. He remembered Clow Reed's words, in his dream. 'Your friends already have the answers to the questions you seek.' 

            "Kinomoto," he began. "Do you know what these things are yet."

            She nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. They're called penumbra cards. And your mother was right. These were definitely created by someone who bitterly hates Clow Reed."

            "I had the dream again," he decided to tell her. She looked at him. She, too, had had her own dream that night, but she didn't want to bother him with it. "What happened?" She asked.

            "I talked to Clow Reed. He told me that I'm in the most danger of everyone. Even more than you."

            She nodded again. "I'll believe that. Those things are specifically going after you because you're related to him. I was thinking, and everyone agrees with me. Until we capture all of these penumbra cards… you should just stay out of this."

            Li shot up out of the bed, sending his covers flying to the other end. His eyes flared angrily, and the ailments that had been plaguing him forgotten. "Don't forget who you're talking to, Kinomoto! I'm Li Syaoran! When have I ever backed away from a fight just because it was dangerous?"

            "Never, Li." Sakura said, still softly, not at all defended by Li's anger. "You've never backed away from a fight, never retreated. And maybe that's the problem, Li-kun. You have to know when to stop. And right now is that time. You're in danger. You didn't see that battle, you didn't see what that card made you do, Li-kun."

            "I can never stop fighting," he said simply, containing his emotions.

            Sakura was beginning to be annoyed by his stubbornness. "Look around, Li! How many times are you going to end up on this bed? Every time we capture a penumbra card, you want to be one step closer to being destroyed? If those cards were specifically targeting me, I'd stop. I'd let you take over!"

            "I wouldn't." Li said simply, and ended the conversation at that.

            Sakura slammed the door to her room angrily, and stomped in. Kero-chan had been admiring the beautiful tapestry of twinkling stars. He looked at her as she vehemently stomped over to her bed, and let out a scream. Kero toppled over, alarmed by his friend's temper. "What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" He flew over to her. Her face was buried in her hands, and she was shaking uncontrollably in sobs.

            "Li-kun." She said amidst tears. "He's so _stubborn_! He's going to get himself killed! Why doesn't he understand?"

            Kero-chan's heart was breaking at seeing his best friend so miserable, but he would never admit it. "Because he's Li. When has he ever listened to reason?"

            Sakura giggled in spite of her self. "Kero-chan, my dream… if he keeps on fighting the penumbra cards, eventually it'll come true."

            Kero put a paw to her chin and lifted her head up to gaze out the window into the endless sea of stars. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. Li will do what is right."

            Li hitched the sword onto the belt of his robes. Checking to see if his Rashinban was with him, he opened the door to Wei's room. "I'm leaving, Wei." He announced.

            The old man, sitting on a chair, as if deeply disturbed by something, sighed. "I have tried to convince you otherwise, Syaoran. But you are too much like your father. You shall go, regardless what I say. But what about that girl, Sakura? She seems to want you to live more than I do!"

            Li shut his eyes. Wei did not know that he had hit on perhaps the only regret he had for leaving. "It's her I'm worried about. She's still not as good a cardcaptor as I am. I have to capture the penumbra cards."

            "She will not be happy. Should you not at least tell Meiling?"

            Li shook his head, and gently shut the door to his cousin's room. Walking across the living room, he slid open the door that led to the outside world. The night air calmed his nerves, and he started to think about his decision. Was it really wise to set out and capture the cards on his own, especially when he could barely seal them even with Sakura? "Yes," Li said aloud. "I have to see. If Clow Reed was right."

            As he walked down Tomoeda Road, he looked up at the night sky, completely unaware that, across the city in a small yellow house, Sakura Kinomoto and Cerberus were also staring at the exact same star.


End file.
